Accu-Fine Support | Accu-Chek
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Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

When you go from a warm to cold place, the insulin shrinks and air enters the insulin cartridge through the needle. When extra air is in the insulin cartridge, your dose won't be right. When you go from a cold to warm place the insulin swells and leaks out through the needle. If you use NPH or 70/30, fluid may leak out while particles stay in. This will change the strength of your insulin.

There is no issue with storage of Pen Needles in the refrigerator per a 2-year study (Document # CP50007B, Rev. 3) However, it is important to inform the consumer that he/she needs to check whether, or not, the medication being injected can be refrigerated.

Contact your local health Dept.

Place the outer needle shield on a table with the opening pointing up. Carefully insert the pen needle into the opening of the shield, without holding onto shield, and push down firmly or lay the needle on the table and "scoop" it up. Grip the shield and use it to unscrew the pen needle. Dispose of needle properly. If you have a home sharps container, you can insert the pen into the pen needle port. Unscrew the needle, it will drop safely into the home sharps container.

Clinical studies have proven that short needles are an effective product for all people with diabetes. However, recommend that consumer consult with his/her physician to determine which needle will be best.

The shorter needles are made for injection into subcutaneous layer of skin and so reduce the risk of intermuscular injection. They may also reduce needle phobia and enhance acceptance of daily insulin injections.

“No Pinch” is also the recommended technique for shorter enables and allows for 1 handed injections.

Clinical results showed no statistically significant difference in blood glucose leakage or pain if a pinch-up is used.

Please respond to requests for design information, i.e.: “What is the mass for Pen Needles?” by informing the customer that information regarding the design for Pen Needles can be found in the ISO Standards, ISO 11608-2. This is a worldwide standard used for the design of pen needle products.

Please inform the customer that we can forward this information and get the matter resolved. Ask the customer to let us know if this issue continues/reoccurs. Please get the caller’s name and get the pharmacy’s complete address and phone number. Forward the information to local country marketing lead.

The pen needles should be dispensed as a box of 100. The package is not intended to be broken. Plans will pay for the box of 100; the pharmacist needs to enter it so that it reads as a 30 day supply, realized that the patient will not get if refilled for another 60 days or so.

The sterilization process uses cobalt-60 (a radionuclided cobalt) and does not add any cobalt to the product; The sterilization process is simply an exposure to the gamma rays emitted by the cobalt which kills bacteria.

This type of sterilization process is approved by the FDA for food sterilization of chicken, fruit and spices.

However, our cannula is made from Type 304 Stainless steel. This grade of stainless is composed of many substances including carbon, manganese, chromium, nickel and others in various percentages. This does not DIRECTLY add cobalt into the material BUT it could be contained in the nickel at a residual level of about ~0.2%. The amount of nickel in 304 stainless is about 10% so the potential amount of cobalt in the need would be about 0.02%. The cobalt which may be contained in the nickel is simple cobalt, not cobalt-60.

So the answer is there is no cobalt from the sterilization process but there could be a very small amount in the needle due to the nickel.

One other thing to consider with this patient could be a nickel sensitivity as well.

There is no dead space in the pen needles. The design of the pen needles has accounted for the residual volume in the cannula as part of the delivered dose.

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Accu-Chek Accu-Fine

Item Description

The insulin pen needles from the Accu-Fine product range allow for a gentleinjection as well as particularly safe & practical handling. Accu-Fine needles can be used with all common insulin pens. The needles are available in lengths of 4, 5, 6, 8, and 12.7 mm, suitable for all1.

 

Benefits and Features
  • Gentle injection: special cut for gentle insertion under the skin, special coating for gliding into the skin and thin wall for more rapid insulin flow 
  • Dual protection: with two protective covers.
    • Protective cap with dual function
      • Sealed sterile protective cap
      • Easy screwing and unscrewing of the needle
    • Additional Protective cap
      •  Sterile needle tip ensures safe use​
  • Practically for everyone: regardless of gender, age or BMI
  • Compatible: with all common insulin pens
  • Minimizes the risk of painful intramuscular injections: with smaller needle lengths

 

This product is available in selected countries in the Middle East and Africa region. Please visit our Contact Us page to get in touch with your local Roche Diabetes Care entity or Roche Distributor.

Additional Specifications
Available lengths:

0.33mm (29G) x 12.7 mm 

0.30mm (30G) x 8 mm

0.25mm (31G) x 8 mm

0.25mm (31G) x 6 mm

0.23mm (32G) x 6 mm

0.25mm (31G) x 5mm

0.23mm (32G) x 4 mm

Novo Nordisk:

NovoPen 4, NovoPen 5, NovoPen Echo, NovoPen 3, NovoPen Junior, FlexPen, InnoLet, Victoza Pen

Sanofi:

Toujeo SoloStar, TactiPen, ClikSTAR, JuniorStar, SoloStar

Lilly:

KwikPen, HumaPen Savvio, HumaPen Luxura / Luxura HD

Berlin Chemie:

BerliPen Areo / Areo3

AstraZeneca:

Byetta 5 mcg, Byetta 10 mcg

Owen Mumford:

Autopen Classic, Autopen 24

Pendiq:
   

Pendiq 2.0

Where to inject insulin

Insulin acts differently, depending on the area injected. The speed at which the insulin reaches the circulation from the different injection areas varies – depending on which area you choose:

  • Abdomen: Insulin delivered to the abdomen has the fastest effect on the body. 
  • Thigh: Delayed onset of action
  • Buttocks/Hip: lowest onset of action                 

The upper layer of the upper arm is thinner, so there is a risk that the injection will be in the muscle. This can be painful and affect the effect of insulin in an unpredictable manner. The 4 mm and 5 mm Accu-Fine needles minimize these risks.

 

Long-acting insulin injection is recommended to be done in areas where insulin needs more time to develop its activity while fast-acting insulin injection is recommended in areas where insulin needs less time to affect blood glucose.

 

Very common injections in the same site may cause lipodystrophy (a change in subcutaneous adipose tissue) which may delay the action of insulin. If possible, insulin should not be given more than once in the same cm² within one week. Make sure to change injection sites regularly; Inject insulin into different areas of the body and at different points in one area (clockwise within each area or from area to area).

 



 

How to inject

Using Accu-Fine needles does not require pinching of the skin. The needle can be inserted into the skin with one hand at an angle of 90 °. Counting up to 10 during injection minimizes the risk of insulin leakage that could result in an insufficient dose.

 

Change the needle after each injection

Using the same needle repeatedly can lower the effect of the injection and lead to infections and lipodystrophy (change of the subcutaneous adipose tissue). For this reason, the needle must absolutely be changed after every use.



 

 

Do not inject insulin over clothing

Injection over clothing is unhealthy, if blood or insulin leaks, it will be impossible to identify or clean it. Furthermore, clothes can remove the coating on the needle which allows for easier flow and gentle penetration. With the removal of the coating the needle can also be bent, making the injection more painful.

 

The correct needle and injection method

Only when using the correct needle and injection method can it be ensured that the insulin is injected into the subcutaneous tissue, and not into the muscle or dermis. The shorter the needle, the lower the risk of adminis-tering the injection into the muscle – which can be painful and also lead to the insulin reaching the blood too fast. Furthermore, the injection is less painful, the thinner the needle is1.



The epidermis and dermis usually do not exceed 3mm1.  Below it is the subcutaneous tissue in which insulin injection is to be injected, whereby muscle is under that subcutaneous tissue. Injection into the muscle may be painful and also accelerates the action of insulin.2  A shorter needle, such as the 4 and 5 mm Accu-Fine needles, can reduce this risk but still has a sufficient length to provide insulin to the subcutaneous tissue. Longer needles do not provide any medical benefit, but are associated with a higher risk for painful intramuscular injections1.



What is Gauge and how does it affect injections?

  • The Gauge is a unit for the size of the needle diameter.
  • The higher the number of gauge, the smaller the needle diameter and the insulin flow. This results in less pain but also more effort required.
  • The lower the gauge number, the greater the diameter of the needle and the flow of insulin. This results in more pain but also less effort required. 
  • The thin needle wall on the Accu-Fine needles allows for a higher insulin flow, even for fine needles with high Gauge.​
  • Accu-Fine needles combine all the benefits and offer less pain with higher insulin flow and less effort required.

 

Bibliographic references

1 Gibney MA, et al. Current Medical Research and Opinion 2010; 26: 6, 1519-1530.

2 Thow JC, et al. Diabetes Med1990; 7: 600-602.

3 Aronson R. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2012; 14 (8): 741-747.

4 Süsstrunk et al. Diabetologia 1982; 22 (3): 171-4.

5 Koivisto VA, Felig P. Ann Intern Med. 1980; 92 (1): 59-61.

6 Strauss et al. Practical Diabetes 2002; 19: 3,71-76.